Woo-hoo! More up and down hills for 40 miles, then smooth sailing for the last 12 miles into Tok, a real Alaska frontier town. Also real food and real accommodations. Wildfires are burning all around interior Alaska, including near Tok, and we saw the fire fighters at work. The day started off a little shaky when I was pulling up tent stakes. When I pulled out the last stake, a geyser of water sprayed up! I had punctured an underground water line last night putting up the tent. Oh well. Near Tok, we pulled into a truck scale and weighed ourselves and our loaded rig. Yep- you can read the scale for yourself – 600 pounds! No wonder pulling those hills is so tough! In Tok, we are staying at Burnt Paw Cabins. Cutest little sod-roof cabins you’ve ever seen. While there, we met new friends Horatio and Elaine Davis. Horatio is 82 years young and a veteran of three wars – WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. He had us spellbound with his humor and stories. Tok is a fork in the road. We can either turn south and go to Anchorage, or continue north on the Alcan to Fairbanks. We’ll look at the options during a day off for the Fourth of July here in Tok and make a decision on our final Alaskan destination.

The Alaska Highway from Beaver Creek YT to near the US Border was awful, so bad that the nice pilot truck driver, Jane, ferried our bike and us across the 10 mile construction zone to safety. The final 20 miles we pedaled to the Alaska State line. What a THRILL to hit that border after all the adventures, heartbreaks, and euphoria along the way. Can you tell we look happy to be there? A rain shower couldn’t even dampen our moment at the border. We met new friends Craig from California and Frank from Warner Robins, GA at the border. New friends (not pictured) Rick and Margaret told us of the swarms of mosquitos ahead (worst in memory for many Alaskans) and gave Linda a mosquito net to put over her head. Word has it that all stores in interior Alaska are sold out of insect repellent! But, our trek doesn’t end at the Alaska State line. We have many more miles to cover before we arrive at our destination. Got to stay focused. On the way to our campground at Northway Junction, a beautiful husky ran out of a yard and chased us down on the bike. She was full of excitement and doggie kisses for both of us. Gave us a boost to get us in to Northway Jct and set up camp around 9:30pm. Tough day from the border to Northway – up and down one hill after another for 50 miles. Tomorrow, we ride in to Tok, the first real town in Alaska.

Happy Canada Day, eh?This morning we heard all these sirens zooming by Buckshot Betty’s and helicopters overhead, thought there was a nasty smashup on the Alcan, went out to see what was going on and it was just the Beaver Creek Canada Day parade! We walked over to the Visitor’s Center where there was a huge celebration. We met some locals, including some members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Ate some cake and had a good time with the Canucks. Then, we met HB and Sharon who rode in on a sweet motor trike and trailer and are in the cabin next to us. They are "retired" but are running a crawfish farm down in Louisiana. Had a great time trading stories with them. Word has it that the last 20 miles from Beaver Creek to Alaska border is the worst on the Alcan, deep gravel, ruts, and extreme dust. If the pilot car is taking vehicles through tomorrow, we might hitch a ride to the border with them. The tandem does not do well in deep gravel. We’ll let you know how it goes!

Before leaving White River, we met and conversed with our new friends from Hamburg, Germany, Thomas and Irene. They are traveling by RV across Canada and Alaska. Thanks to Amanda, TIna, Jonathan, and the whole crew for a great stay at Discovery Yukon/White River! Relatively short ride today into Beaver Creek, Canada’s westernmost township and our last stop in the Yukon before crossing into Alaska! There were two tough climbs today, leaving White River and about halfway to Beaver Creek where we were forced to walk and push the bike up a very steep 3-mile hill. We’ll take a day off in Beaver Creek before bustin’ the border on Tuesday.

We really enjoyed our brief stay at the Burwash Landing Resort on Kluane Lake. This is the oldest remaining original lodge along the Alaska Highway, built in the mid 1940s. Also includes old cabins and the largest gold pan in the solar system. We met Australian bicycle kindred spirits Evan and Courtney, traveling from Anchorage to Panama over the next 5 months (!). Just north of Burwash, we encountered a 7-mile stretch of highway under construction, deep gravel and ruts. The US Army likes to claim that the Alaska Highway was built in only 8 months in 1942. Not true. It’s now been 71 years and it STILL isn’t finished! Saw a mama moose and her young twins at the edge of the forest and, somehow, Linda spotted two bald eagles up in the trees beside the highway. Late in the day, we skirted the edge of some thunderstorms and got a little wet. The last 40 miles of today’s ride were into a pretty fierce headwind. By the time we got to White River Campground, where our reserved cabin was waiting, it was 9:30pm and we were beat! The cabin was superb and Amanda, the owner from Ireland, made us feel right at home.

From Haines Junction, we had to climb two mountain passes to get to Kluane Lake, largest natural glacier-fed lake in the Yukon. Along the way, we passed amazing mountain vistas and wildflower-filled meadows. A bald eagle flew over to check us out and we followed the giant foot prints of a BIG grizzly along the roadside. We had two bike issues early in the ride today – our second kickstand bit the dust and our chain jumped the gear, but neither kept us from rolling along. We were kind of dragging after a six mile mountain climb and mechanical troubles when we encountered one of the most amazing sights of the journey so far. From a mile or so away, we couldn’t tell what it was coming toward us. Was it a caravan of bicycles or a horse-drawn wagon or what? As we got closer we discovered a family of 12 riding their bicycles from Tok, Alaska all the way to Dawson Creek, BC, the start of the Alcan! They are the Kingsley/Skarstedt/Stapley family from Anchorage. The youngest rider was 4-years old! Now THAT is ambitious. They totally brightened our day and trip. Check out their blog at wealcan.blogspot.com.

Fought a moderate to strong headwind today after a late start breaking camp and getting away. When it became clear that we could not make it up the mountain and all the way up to Kluane Lake today, we decided we had to stay in Haines Junction for the night. There is nothing — absolutely nothing — in terms of services in the 50 miles between Haines Jct and Kluane Lake. And the grizzly bears in this area are notorious. We couldn’t afford to come up short and have to camp off the highway in the woods. Tomorrow, we’ll head out for Burwash Landing on Kluane Lake.

"On the Road Again…"NIce day of gently rolling Alaska Highway between mountain ranges. We even had the first decent tail wind of the trip! Met Jim and Judy on bike, traveling down to Haines, Alaska from Whitehorse. There was nothing — absolutely nothing — between Whitehorse and Otter Falls Cutoff in terms of services. We ran out of water just before arriving at the Otter Falls RV Park/Campground for the night.

I won’t lie to you — it was tough to turn in that nice camper and ride away on the bicycle again! Spent the day catching up on some classwork, shopping, running errands. Visited the "Old Log Church" and had a late lunch/early dinner at Bocelli’s Pizzeria. Ron and Jane serve up the best pizza in the Yukon!

We finally arrive in Whitehorse, Yukon, the drop off point for our CanaDream truck/camper. We sincerely hope that "Tom & Linda" won’t mind that we re-engineered their roadside stone art a little bit 🙂 There was a rally great Yukon wildlife exhibit adjacent to the Yukon Motel in Teslin, Yukon.